The longest run

Had planned to run the White Horse 5 on bank holiday Monday but the 11:30am start put me off as it impinged on good eating / drinking time in the midst of a heavy social weekend. It was partly coincidence and partly planned that so much social stuff happened all at once - just like the old 93 bus, you wait ages for one to come along then three come together.

So instead of dodging gypsies & collecting chocolate biscuits at Gloucester, it was off to the Thames Head for lunch with Claudie, my sister & mum. For any locals interested, the food at the TH is now superb. This followed dinner at Jesse Smiths in town on Saturday night and lunch in our garden on a glorious summer Sunday with friends from London.

Saturday's dinner, again high quality, was with Cathie & Dave who, remarkably, got married on the same day as us. We didn't know them then but they were only a few miles away: we married in Morden, south London and they tied the knot in Horsham, Sussex. Unfortunately, being relatively close meant we had the same weather ... it bucketed down all day, absolutely incessant it was. They say that's a good sign and I guess it was because all this waffle is leading to the fact that we celebrated our 25th anniversary on Tuesday! Champagne at home finished off our few sociable days perfectly. Shame Natalie couldn't join us but the poor girl is in the midst of her finals at Exeter Uni.

Of course I trained on our wedding day - my best man was a 30.17 10k runner so it wasn't a gentle plod - and I managed to get out twice on our anniversary. Not sure how many more years I'll be strapping on the trainers rather than slippers but I'll keep it going for as long as I can. As I've said before it's a lifestyle thing.

Thanks Claudie, you're a star for putting up with me all these years!

Relaxing by the Thames

Thought I'd crucify my legs further with another half marathon back at my old stomping ground. The Richmond Half, organised by Ranelagh Harriers, takes in some wonderful settings and, as a consequence is very popular despite an 8.30am start. Living 100 miles away this meant Claudie & I staying overnight with old friends and that meant eating & drinking well. That's my first excuse.
The race started right outside the Ranelagh clubhouse, went over Richmond Bridge, then to Twickenham, Kingston and the magnificent Hampton Court, before returning along the (generally) tarmac towpath, over Kingston Bridge and back to Richmond. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day. My race was nondescript as I was isolated for nearly the whole race, just picking off a few fast starters, before I got into a nice little trio after 8 miles and we picked up the pace. My marathon, previous night's antics and continued health problems all kicked in over the last couple of miles and I was pretty weary by the end. David Rowe's picture shows race winner, Peter Tucker, bounding along. Great to meet up with old friends of course, including two we hadn't seen for a few years: Grenville Tuck and Ned Sullivan. Makes it all worthwhile.
During the previous evening and after the race, swopped lots of texts with my buddy from Rome, Gavin Jones, who decided to run the Prague Marathon. He'd run Rome in 2.48 in March, was aghast to hear that I'd run 2.47 in Scotland, so ran Prague at short notice ... in 2.46! He is a happy man but I shall return and sooner than most expect ...

London revisited

It is many, many years since I did anything other than watch the London Marathon from the comfort of my armchair. I ran the first two editions in 1981 & 1982, drove the lead vehicle in a few subsequent years and even supervised the laying of the blue line marking the route one year (long story but involved starting at midnight and jogging alone through some pretty dodgy Dickensian type areas of the Surrey Docks at 3am with rabid dogs howling ...). I decided this year to go up and soak in the atmosphere whilst supporting Chris Illman in particular.
I arranged to meet up with a gang from Ranelagh who go up every year and therefore know the lie of the land and shortcuts etc., or so I thought ... I felt a bit guilty on the Docklands Light Railway being squeezed in amongst all the runners going to the start (leaving it a bit late I thought). It was very interesting observing them: a lot of jovial banter amongst those travelling together, some very pensive faces, ashen faced even (what other sport does that to you?) and others just constantly drinking as much fluid as possible - most of which would have been flushed out of their system before the start so would actually be a bit pointless.
Greenwich was heaving with spectators even though there was an hour before the elite women were due through and another 45 minutes until the masses. The plan was to watch at six miles then jog under the Thames using the Greenwich foot tunnel and watch again on the Isle of Dogs, this was the standard Ranelagh plan. As I was early I checked out the tunnel - blocked off! There was no chance of using the tunnel. So much for the Ranelagh experience & expertise.
Time at Greenwich wasn't wasted as I met up with Ray & Margaret Auerback, friends from Ranelagh who now live down in Devon. Margaret was a very good runner in her time, winning the Isle of Wight Marathon along with me in 1985, and it was interesting talking to Ray, who never professed to being anything other than a very average club runner - he was more interested in making money as a barrister - yet he ran 2.33.30 in London in the early '80's. Perception has changed so much since that time. In 1982 Ranelagh had 21 finishers under 2.50, including five under 2.30, led by race winner Hugh Jones in 2.09.24. Picture shows me with teammate Andy Ewers in the last mile, we both ran 2.25.48 (click on picture for larger image). Ranelagh was never seen as an elite club, or one that was particularly strong - Hugh obviously being the exception - yet we all trained together and accepted that these kind of times were normal. Oh that we could garner that feeling and competitiveness at Cirencester's sessions! Progress is being made but there is still a long way to go. I really believe the club can move forward en masse - Wendy, Jane & Chris have led by example - the improvements over the last couple of years are testament to that, witness greatly improved regional & national relay results and Ciren depth in most local road races. Positive thinking and belief are so important as is team spirit. Club captain Adrian Williams is superbly capturing the latter and will hopefully drive the club forward. Whether I will be part of that only time will tell, I hope that I can be of help. Perhaps I will take a back seat and watch it happen.
Anyway, I digress, back to the race. First sight of the runners was the rather incongruous one of a handful of elite women. Only about a dozen started whilst 35,000 waited another 45 minutes, and I found it rather sad to see the current Olympic champion, Constantina Dita, already tailed off last of the dozen (clearly at the race to cash in on her champion status). Soon enough the main race came through led by a phalanx of rapid Africans - TV doesn't give a true perspective on the pace these guys run. They are rapid! Chris followed soon after, worringly earlier than planned but given the downhill nature of the first few miles, slightly understandable.
I then fought through the masses to get to Greenwich station, leaving my Ranelagh friends behind, and the DLR train across to the IoD, managing to see the runners again at 25km (15½ miles) where Chris was looking pretty good, and again at Canary Wharf at 19 miles amongst heaving crowds (not looking so good!). Underground to Waterloo and a bit of pace across Hungerford Bridge got me to the 40km marker where I met up with my very good Dutch friend Alex Halter, over with a tour group from Holland. I was too late for the leaders here but saw Chris go through and walked with Alex to the finish. Tony Curry then rang me from his spot helping at the finish line to say that Chris had finished; he was somewhat aghast to hear that I was only 400 metres away when he thought I was in Cirencester!
Caught up with Chris afterwards. Although disappointed, having got his pace wrong, he was quite sanquine about things as he lugged the biggest rucksack ever seen from the finishing funnel to his waiting parents. This was a stepping stone for him and he'll be stronger for it going forward. Ranked 2nd in the marathon at U23 level he knows there are opportunities ahead to make a real impression at the highest level. Quite ironic though that he was only 30 seconds faster than my afore-mentioned friend Ray. Also had a chat with Adam Harborow, who must have been the only runner in the race holding himself back in the last few miles: his sole aim was to get the three hour monkey off his back and he didn't want to seize up, so he paced himself perfectly. Look for a sub 2.50 next year from Adam.
Don't know about the guys who ran the race but I was exhausted; lots of short, fast running bursts throughout the morning interspersed with regular text messages to/from interested parties: Rupert Chesmore, out on the course supporting Liza, the Ranelagh gang, Claudie, Natalie, Wendy, Alex and others. An exhilarating morning, thoroughly enjoyable, but perhaps next year I'll have my feet up in front of the TV again.